The Independent
By Robert Verkaik
26 March 2005
The Church of England is to recruit directly from nightclubs as part of an evangelical drive that taps into the growth of New Age spiritualism in Britain. Evangelical missions have already begun working with surfing communities in Cornwall and are now targeting clubbers as far afield as Ibiza.
A new Church of England study, Evangelism in a Spiritual Age, also encourages traditional parishes to contact alternative lifestyle groups, many of which have atheist and pagan beliefs.
In the foreword to the study, the Bishop of Maidstone, Graham Cray, says: "This remarkable increase in reported spiritual experiences among adults has to be taken very seriously ... spiritual experience of various kind is clearly a key element in contemporary adult evangelism, especially with those who have had little or no connection with the Church."
The Church is worried that not only are congregations in decline but its research has found 60 per cent of adults and children are already "culturally beyond the reach" of traditionally evangelical approaches. Bishop Cray says: "It is a situation requiring not just fresh expressions of Church but fresh expressions of evangelism."
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